Fine dining, with a few quirks WEEKEND | 18 FEBRUARY 5, 2016 VOLUME 24, NO. 2
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New take on creekside encampments WATER DISTRICT TO EXPLORE HOUSING HOMELESS, RATHER THAN ROUSTING THEM By Kevin Forestieri
This has resulted in an adveranta Clara Valley Water sarial relationship between District board members district staff and the homeless agreed last week to sign people living on water district onto a county-wide effort to property. At the Jan. 26 board meetreduce homelessness in Santa Clara County, which could ing, Liz Bettencourt, president include housing homeless peo- of one of the district’s three employee associations, said ple on district-owned land. The regional water district conditions along the creeks may seem like an unlikely ally have “deteriorated at a crazy in the effort to shore up housing rampant rate,” and the threat of for the roughly 6,500 home- violence employees face when less people in the county. But cleaning out homeless encampencampments and trash pile- ments is a big concern. Bettenups along several creeks and court urged the board to conwaterways have posed a chron- sider added safety measures for ic health and safety problem district staff, including bulletthat drains the water district’s proof vests and assistance from the county resources, offisheriff ’s office, cials say. Over the last ‘There are many during cleanup operations. four years, the water district homeless who ... are Robert Aguirre, who is no has cranked up still living within longer homeefforts to disbut who mantle home200 yards of their less used to live less camps the infaalong wateroriginal campsite.’ in mous “Jungle” ways through its cleanup RICHARD MCMURTRY, SANTA CLARA enc a mpment in San Jose, program. In COUNTY CREEK COALITION said the water the 2015 fiscal district has year, water district staff collected 1,209 tons of largely done a bad job working trash from encampments, more with the creekside homeless than the last two years com- population. When district staff bined. Costs for cleanup over come in to clean out encampthe last three years has totaled ments, Aguirre said there’s no nearly $2.7 million, which has opportunity for the homeless to been funded by the district’s separate their belongings, and that one person had a backpack 2012 Measure B parcel tax. The decision by board mem- physically taken off by a district bers to work with county offi- staff member and thrown into a cials and housing agencies like trash compactor. “If you continue harassing Destination: Home could mark a big change of pace for the the people who are homeless, district, which has been focused they are going to continue to on tearing down creekside harass you back,” Aguirre said, encampments rather than on See ENCAMPMENTS, page 8 providing homeless services.
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Anirudh, a student programmer on the Graham Middle School robotics team, shows a model of furniture that could be made from plastic beads collected from a trash-clearing robot.
Robotics season kicks into high gear MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS SPEND MONTHS PERFECTING AUTOMATED ROBOTS By Kevin Forestieri
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utomated vehicles are all the rage in Silicon Valley, as Google and other prominent tech companies work on developing self-driving cars. And students at both of Mountain View’s
middle schools have followed suit, albeit on a smaller scale. For the last five months, Crittenden and Graham Middle School students have spent countless hours engineering, tinkering and troubleshooting to create a robot that can push, pull, demolish and carry
objects, all without the use of a remote control. Both school have a team participating in this year’s First Lego League Challenge, where students are tasked with building a robot made up only of See ROBOTICS, page 7
Controversial board member will not seek re-election STEVE NELSON SAYS HE WON’T RUN FOR SECOND TERM ON MOUNTAIN VIEW WHISMAN SCHOOL BOARD By Kevin Forestieri
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teve Nelson, a controversial member of the Mountain View Whisman School District board, told the Voice in an email Tuesday that he would not
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be seeking re-election in November. He cited “poor” communication as a reason for stepping down at the end of his first term. Nelson has often been an adversarial figure in the district. Elected in 2012, he has frequently
challenged fellow trustees and district staff in arguments during board meetings, and is often the lone “no” vote. Nelson said his actions on the board have steered See BOARD MEMBER, page 9
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